Love Doesn't Translate Well
by NerdOfLegends23
Summary: At 25, Levy McGarden has just been hired as the head translator at Fairy Tail Law Firm. She is ready to start her new career and make her way to a publishing company. But she is not prepared to be reunited with her high school bully, Gajeel Redfox. Alternate POV of "Relations Are Hard When It's Just Two", by LostSoulSister.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fairy Tail Law Firm

Levy'd like to say that she had a pretty good life. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't hit the occasional bump in the road. And after college, she had assumed that life would just be smooth sailing.

She was wrong.

Dead wrong.

She had been hired for her dream job. She had tried to study too many languages to count. But in the end, she had only been able to become fluent in six. She had to say, being able to speak English, Japanese, Spanish, French, Latin, and Greek gave her a pretty good start. And she supposed her undying love for learning had been a big part of getting hired at Fairy Tail Law Firm. Sure, working at a law firm wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but it was a start. Hopefully one day she could move onto translating books and score a job at some big- shot publishing company.

The morning of her first day at work, Levy shot out of bed faster than anyone in the history of ever. She had taken a shower the night before, but still not feeling clean enough, she jumped into the shower once again to get ready for her fresh start. She quickly- yet carefully- brushed her short blue hair and put on her brand- new suit- a professional navy blue pencil skirt and blazer with a creme blouse. Cursing her short height, she put on a pair of black heels and struggled to walk out of her bedroom door. She threw on her signature headband and a couple of bracelets before heading out of her apartment. She was too nervous for breakfast, no matter how bad she knew skipping it was.

She started her white electric car and, once again cursing her short height, struggled to adjust her seat so she could reach the pedals. Her brother had borrowed it the day before to go out with some friends, and unlike her, was not the staggeringly small five feet. Levy loved her family to death, but she hated how she was the only one who couldn't reach the top cabinet in the kitchen without climbing onto the counter. She was a grown woman stuck in a twelve- year old's body. Oh, how she hated recessive genes.

She turned on the radio and raised the volume on her favorite station. She was _not_ about to start her first day in a foul mood. As she drove to work, she hummed along to the music and daydreamed about the people she would meet, the friends she would make, and the promotions she might gain. Not that she could go any higher than the head translator, but it pleasant daydream all the same.

None of her daydreams were anything like what she was about to face when she opened those glass doors.

Levy had become even cheerier when she had seen "Fairy Tail" in big red letters at the top of the tall building, not letting the fact that it made her feel even shorter get to her. Next to the letters was a symbol, still red, of what she assumed to be a leaping fairy with a tail. It was very abstract, but she gave the designer credit for creativity. It was a lovely symbol, and it gave her some sense of pride in her new workplace. Levy didn' t know why a fairy with a tail would symbolize a law firm seeking justice, and she figured she would never know. She just simply shrugged and pushed open the doors to her future.

And man, what a crazy future that turned out to be.

She smiled when she saw the friendly purple- haired receptionist, Kinana. She had been so helpful to her when she had come in for her job interview, and she hoped that they would become good friends. She looked a bit tired this particular morning, so she made sure to address her with an extra touch of politeness.

"Good morning, Kinana." Levy said, widening her grin.

"Good morning, Ms. McGarden." The young woman said brightly. "It appears you have been hired."

"You bet! I'm pumped!" Levy said, even brighter, making her way to the elevator, and showing a thumbs up. Pushing the button for the seventh floor, she said, "You'd better get more sleep, or I'm gonna be spending all my money on buying your coffee."

Levy had just enough time to see Kinana's look of surprise before the doors closed.

Yep. It was going to be a good day.

Or… so she thought.

She hadn't expected the whole law firm to come to her office just to say hello, but it was a little disappointing just seeing one person waiting by her desk. She seemed to be her age, and wore a beige sweater and a white skirt. She had a single yellow clip in her short white hair that matched her unnecessarily tall heels. Levy pouted her bottom lip slightly when she saw her beautifully long legs. The woman noticed her at the door, and gave her a smile.

"Hi! I heard you'd be coming today." She said in a sweet voice. "Welcome to the Fairy Tail Law Firm. I'm sure you'll have fun working here. My name's Lisanna Strauss, I'm the librarian here. If you need any information about a case, you come to me, 'kay?"

Levy nodded once and held her hand out. "I'm Levy McGarden. Nice to meet you."

Lisanna took her hand and shook it gently. "We don't get a lot of translators here, so you're gonna be extra busy." She quickly glanced down at her watch and frowned. "Oh man, I gotta go. Good luck!" She fast walked out of the door, waving as she left.

Levy sighed, placing her purse on the desk and sitting down. "Busy, huh?" She slowly began to unpack her purse, putting her favorite pen in the cup with the others, placing a notebook into one of the drawers, and setting a picture frame next to her computer. It was of her family, taken just a couple months ago before her sister moved out. She was in the middle, wearing her favorite orange dress. She was the oldest, but towering to her left stood her sister, who was twenty- one, wearing her long hair in a braid and showing off her curves in a pair of jeans and a tight- fitting shirt, and to her right stood her brother, age eighteen, wearing a leather jacket and a pair of beaten- up pants with his hair slicked back. Behind them stood their parents, a young couple who had just recently started showing their wrinkles, who looked ready to go to a dinner party. She laughed when she remembered her dog, Mari, had refused to sit still for the picture and ended up swung over her father's shoulders, looking rather bored. Levy was so caught up in her thoughts that she barely noticed the bickering that was going on down the hall. She was about to get up and check it out when a woman with red hair stepped into her office.

"Shut up and hurry up!" She called down the hall. The bickering stopped and the footsteps became quicker. Soon, five people were standing in front of her desk: the angry- looking redhead, a blonde who seemed rather annoyed, two young men who Levy believed to be quite scared of the redhead, one whom was wearing nothing but a pair of black pants, and the other with spiky pink hair. There was a blue haired woman behind them, who seemed quite interested in the man without a shirt.

"Excuse us," the blonde said quickly.

Levy raised an eyebrow at the odd group.

The redhead cleared her throat. "My name is Erza Scarlett. These are my friends, Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Juvia Lockser."

Lucy, the blonde, said, "Nice to meet you. You must be the new head translator, right? I apologize for our unprofessional antics."

Levy shook her hand in front of her face. "No, not at all. Nice to meet you all. I'm Levy McGarden."

Erza nodded, her arms crossed. "I hope you enjoy working here. You may find your co-workers, a little…"

"Crazy." Lucy finished. "Especially those two…" She let out a fake cough, "men."

The pink- haired one, Natsu, raised his fist. "Hey, who are you calling crazy, Luce? At least I'm not a perverted stripper!"

Gray, the "stripper", Levy guessed, slammed his forehead into Natsu's and yelled, "Oh yeah, well at least I'm not a pyro who wears the same scarf every friggin' day!"

"At least I wear something everyday!"

Juvia seemed to be enjoying the view.

"You wanna go, Salamander?"

"Anywhere, anytime."

Erza had had enough of it. She grabbed each by their hair and pulled them apart before slamming them back together, causing them to fall to the ground. "Be respectful. We are welcoming a new friend."

"Aye, sir!" They said simultaneously, saluting.

"A f-friend?" Levy stammered.

Lucy and Erza nodded.

"Of course." Lucy said, as if it was as plain as night and day. "Unlike anywhere else you may have worked, here at Fairy Tail, you're not just our co- worker, you're our friend."

"See," Gray pitched in, standing up. "Us, we're like family. We may bicker and argue, but we care about each other all the same."

Juvia stepped forward. "Juvia does not wish to work anywhere else. Fairy Tail is like Juvia's home."

Natsu raised his fist and proclaimed, "Yeah, and we'll crush anyone who dares to harm a member of Fairy Tail!"

 _Member._

Levy wasn't some newbie fresh out of college. She wasn't some nobody who dared to enter the tight bonds held by the people at Fairy Tail Law Firm. She was a member. A member of their _family._

Levy smiled. Yeah, they were crazy. But she liked them. She laughed, feeling a large weight lifting from her. This was her first big job, and just by walking in the building, she was considered a friend. Just from walking into her office, she knew.

She loved Fairy Tail.

Levy was busy clicking away at her computer- making sure she knew where to find all her files, how to organize them, and how to program it so it would let her write in different languages- when she heard them.

Two voices, both male, making their way to her office, calling her name.

"Leeevy!"

"Leeevy!"

She looked up from her computer. She knew those voices.

"Leeevy!"

"We miiissed you!"

She didn't have anytime to think before she was attacked by two tall men in suits.

"I… can't… breathe…" She gasped.

The two hopped off of her. "We're sorry, Levy."

Levy smiled. She had known Jet and Droy since they were little kids, and they had never once changed. They were always so protective of her.

"Leeevy, why didn't you call us?" Droy whined. "We had no idea you got the job."

The petite young woman shrugged. "I wanted to surprise you."

"But you didn't talk to us for a _week_." Jet whined. "We were worried."

Levy laughed. The two men tried their best to look angry, but she knew they weren't. She remembered in middle school when she went to a girl's sleepover rather than hanging out with them, and when they tried to ignore her for a whole day, they gave in by lunchtime.

"I'm glad you recommended me to this place. I'm going to have a lot of fun."

" _And_ ," Droy added, "You get to see us everyday!"

She giggled. "That's true. Let's just hope I have a lot of problems with my computer. That way I can spend a ton of time with you guys!"

The two threw themselves onto her once again. "Oh, Leeevy!" They cried.

Jet and Droy worked in the I.T. department of the law firm, being very good at handling computers, and not so much people. It was funny, Levy thought, how none of them had hoped on working at a law firm, especially a very large one, but they all ended up here. Jet and Droy, as expected, had wanted to follow her around, but neither of them had remembered the slightest bit of Spanish from their classes, so going into translating would definitely not end with success. She remembered the day she went off to college, and the two stood on her lawn, crying harder than her whole family combined.

She was so glad she was friends with them.

Jet and Droy were about to go into their usual routine of talking about two different things at once when there was a knock on the side of the open door. Standing in the doorway was a familiar head of white hair.

"Hey Lisanna!" The three said simultaneously.

"Hey guys! May I borrow Levy for a sec.?"

Jet and Droy reluctantly nodded, and Levy followed Lisanna out of the door.

"What's up?" She asked the librarian.

"Well, I figured you might be pretty bored doing nothing in your office, so I've got your first project for you. You're going to translate some emails for our Intercompany Relations Director."

"Oh." She said simply.

They turned the corner to the relations offices, where two people were working diligently. Lisanna pointed to a large empty office. "That's his office. He should be back soon."

Levy nodded and entered the office. She was a bit nervous about working with someone else for her first project, but she figured she would just try her best and nothing would go wrong. That was how it worked, right?

Wrong.

Wrong because standing in the doorway was a man with no social skills, no people skills. She was surprised he had any skills at all.

Wrong because standing in the doorway was the reason for her just barely getting into the college of her dreams. He was the reason she hated high school.

Wrong because standing in the doorway was a man with large muscles, long black hair, and the worst looking face in human history.

Wrong because standing in the doorway was the only person Levy McGarden ever hated.

Gajeel Redfox.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Reunion

Levy was surprised Jet and Droy hadn't killed Gajeel by now. And she supposed it was because she had convinced them not to. She was most surprised they actually listened to her. They actually managed to not lay even a fist on Gajeel for four whole years It wasn't like Levy didn't want them to beat Gajeel to a pulp. In fact, she might have actually _paid_ to see the monster have the living crap beat out of him, as much as she disliked fighting. And boy, was she relieved to get out of that living Tartarus of a school and never having to see his ugly mug ever again.

Looks like she was wrong. For once.

Levy really didn't know how to react when she saw him standing in the doorway, wearing a pair of black slacks and a loosely buttoned dress shirt. It was quite drastic change from the ripped jeans and tight black t-shirt worn to show off his muscles in high school. The only reason Levy could recognise him was probably the piercings and messy, unbearably long black hair (which was now even longer).

She couldn't tell if Gajeel was nervous or fighting back the urge to blurt out a bunch of insults. Lisanna hadn't left yet, so he wanted to act professional, she guessed. "Hello, Ms. McGarden. I'm Gajeel Redfox. Nice to meet you."

That's when she lost it. Screw professionalism. " _Nice to meet you,_ Gajeel? Really?"

"Oi, wha…"

"Four years, Gajeel. Four whole years you tormented me. How dare you even mutter the word 'nice' in my presence! Do you realize just how much of my life you screwed up? I could have gone to the best school in the country! I could have gotten a job at a publishing company! Ugh, it's your fault I even _met_ you again!"

"Oi, I…"

"What?! You want to say 'you're sorry'?!"

"What if I do?!" He spat, raising his voice.

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it, Gajeel!"

"Then what will?!"

Levy cursed. He always knew how to get her. Even after all this time, he won. She didn't know. She really didn't know what he could do to make it up to her, even if he truly was sorry. She cursed again and crossed her arms, pouting her bottom lip. "Let's just get to work."

Lisanna had disappeared. Levy didn't know whether to be scared because she just picked a fight with one of her coworkers on the first day, or relieved because she didn't have to explain anything to her right now.

Gajeel's desk was messy, with papers scattered in such a manner that he didn't even have a place to put his coffee. There was not a filing folder in sight. There was one thing, though, that almost made Levy laugh. Almost. On top of his printer was a framed picture of Gajeel with his annoying smirk slapped on his face, and a black cat with a scar across his eye, looking rather annoyed sitting on top of his head. Next to him was a younger version of Juvia, her arms raised in cheeriness.

"Who wouldda thought the devil himself would have a significant other before I did?" Levy muttered to herself.

Unfortunately, "the devil himself" heard. "Juvia ain't my girlfriend." He huffed, not taking his eyes off his computer. "You gonna sit down or what?"

"I'm not putting my butt where yours has been."

"Whatever you say, _kami- sama_."

Levy scowled. She felt bad for whatever god he prayed to, if he was religious at all, which she doubted. Those words sounded terrible coming out of his dirty mouth.

Gajeel printed out an email in Japanese and handed it to her. "Here. This is from the Sabertooth Law Firm. We're trying to set up a lawyer exchange program."

Levy took the papers. "How can you send lawyers over to Japan if they don't even speak the language?"

"We have you now, right? Besides, that lawyer Titania speaks a little. She managed to translate the first email they sent us."

"Titania?"

"Yeah, the redhead. Real name's Erza Scarlet. She's the best lawyer we got. She kinda runs the place. I'm surprised if that CAO does anything 'round here. That's why she's the queen of Fairy Tail. The fairy queen. Like Titania from… uh, what was it again?"

"Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night's Dream." Levy smiled. "Isn't it wonderful how literature affects our daily lives?"

Gajeel scowled. "Don't make that face. It's creepy."

Levy crossed her arms. "Says the guy who has a picture of some random coworker on his desk."

"Oi, she's my friend."

" _You_ , have friends? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!"

"I happen to have a lot of people I consider to be friends, for your information."

"Who, your cat? Your couch? A pizza slice? Hair gel?"

That made him angry. "Well, I suppose you've made plenty of friends. And I ain't talking about those two cheerleaders of yours."

"Jet and Droy happen to the best friends anyone could ask for! They are protective, and always listen, they're honest to a fault, and always have my back. They always push me to follow my dreams."

"They're in love with you. They're best friends, but they are always fighting over you. It's sad, really."

Levy blushed. "I know that! I've known that since elementary school!"

"Then why haven't you done anything about it?"

"I have! I told them I recognised their feelings, but I just wanted to be friends."

"And they still follow you around like baby ducklings to their mother? Sounds pathetic to me."

"They're real friends. That's why you don't understand. Who is the last person you actually got a drink with?"

Gajeel thought for a second. "Salamander, Blondie, and Titania, I think. That stripper was out on a date with Juvia."

Levy was shocked. Gajeel actually hung out with that crazy bunch? And Gray and Juvia were _dating_? She could only imagine Gajeel and Natsu fighting, and he definitely wasn't gentlemanly enough to go to a bar with some girls, although she figured "Titania" could handle herself. The Gray and Juvia part seemed a lot more realistic, although she had only just met them.

Gajeel noticed her face. "See, told ya."

Levy cursed. She could never win with this guy.

"You better wash that dirty mouth of yours, shrimp."

It was then when she realised something. This wasn't like their arguments years ago. It wasn't constant insults thrown towards one another. They were having an actual conversation, the insults and bickering seeming to be only playful banter.

What changed?

Levy shook her head. Whatever. She could worry about this later. Right now she had two pages full of Japanese words to translate, and boy was there was a lot of kanji. She was about halfway down the first page when she gasped and asked, "Just how much Japanese does Erza know?"

"Not sure. Why'd ya ask?"

The petite woman looked up at the muscular man, a worried look in her eyes. "I'm pretty sure she told them that the whole firm was coming to Japan."

Gajeel blinked. "How the heck did Titania manage to do that?"

Levy shook her head. "I have no idea. But they're expecting us in two weeks."

Levy Mcgarden honestly had no idea what to expect. She was standing in front on the large white doors to the CAO's office. From what Gajeel had said earlier, she didn't expect him to be an overly intimidating man, but she couldn't help but be nervous. She was, after all, going to talk to the head of the company on her first day. Gajeel seemed to be disinterested. He talked as if he had a good relationship with everyone here, but she doubted anyone around here actually liked him.

Then she noticed something else. Didn't Jet and Droy work here? Why didn't they tell her that he was here? Even if they were trying to tell her earlier when they were in her office, they didn't mention him at all when they recommended she apply for a job here. Did they actually get along now? Doubtful. Did they even know he was working here? They had to have met him at some point, or at least known that he was in the building. He was the head of his branch for goodness sake! He does most of his work via email. There was a very low possibility that he had not had a single problem with this computer or printer. No one was that lucky with technology. And he definitely didn't deserve luck. They had talked about them earlier, so he definitely knew who they were. She doubted there would be another Jet and Droy that just so happened to look mind- blowingly similar to hers that Gajeel mistook them for.

She was just about to open her mouth to ask when the doors flew open.

"What do ya kids what?" Said a groggy and slightly irritated male voice.

Levy looked around, confused. Where was that voice coming from? It sounded like it was coming from right in front of her, but no one was there. Unless…

The young woman looked down. Before her was a very short, very old man. Gajeel seemed amused by her reaction. He patted her head. "Finally found someone shorter than you, huh, shrimp?"

She smacked his hand off her head. "Don't you dare touch me."

Gajeel chuckled. Jeez, that annoyed her. He turned his attention back to the small man. "Gramps, newbie here needs to ask ya 'bout something."

Levy ignored his "newbie" comment and handed the man the translated email. She watched his expression as he read it.

"So?" She asked curiously when he finished.

"So what?"

"Erza translated the email incorrectly. Do you want me to clear up the misunderstanding?"

"No need." He said, walked back to his desk and hopped onto it, where he proceeded to dangle his legs like a little kid.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"There's no need to clear it up. Let's go to Japan!"

Levy allowed her to jaw fall to the ground. _What the-_

"Gramps-" Gajeel started.

"Levy McGarden, right?" The Chief Administrative Officer pointed to her. "For the next two weeks, you're gonna teach the whole firm basic Japanese. Those two interns- Wendy and Romeo, I think- they'll come too. It'll really give our firm some international advantage. We're lucky they agreed to this."

"But-"

He raised a hand. "You better go. You have a lot of work to do." He winked at her. "Gotta get started sooner then later, right?"

She was in a daze. A complete and utter daze. How the heck was the supposed to teach a little over a hundred employees Japanese in just two weeks?

There were a lot of strange things about the short Levy McGarden, the most enigmatic being her unnaturally natural blue hair. But when the stepped into the large conference room of Fairy Tail Law Firm, she hadn't expect such odd stares. These were the highest ranking people of the entire firm, sitting in front of her, looking quite determined, and a little annoyed they had to be pulled away from their work to be taught by a newbie who was only five feet tall. There were about twenty- five of them, some of which she had seen earlier- Erza, Gray, Juvia, Lucy, Natsu, Lisanna, Kinana, and that crazy CAO, Makarov, Gajeel had told her. There were two people who looked younger than the rest, Wendy and Romeo, she guessed. Jet and Droy were there of course, and Gajeel as well, as much as he had refused. Levy's mind went back to her question from before. What exactly _was_ the relationship between those three anyway?

"Um… hello," She started nervously. "I'm Levy McGarden, the new head translator. As you may or may not know, Fairy Tail was planning to set up an exchange program with the Sabertooth Law Firm in Japan. But due to a mistranslation by one of our coworkers,"- she gave a quick glance to Erza, unsure of whether or not to be angry-"The whole firm will be traveling to Japan, including the interns. Makarov has given me the task of teaching you all you need to know for a short stay in Japan in two weeks." She noticed him, sitting at the end of one of the long tables on top of a large stack of books. Wait, why wasn't _he_ telling them this?

The young, blunette intern sitting in the middle of the the table raised her hand. "Excuse me, miss, but what about school? Romeo and I are college students after all."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to take that up with Makarov."

Wendy and Romeo pouted, as if they would be upset about missing their schoolwork, but their eyes told her that they were excited about going to a foreign country.

Another person raised their hand, this time an older- looking woman with a head of green hair. Levy recognised her as the woman who was working in human relations. "My husband and I have a daughter in high school." She turned to the CAO. "Will Asuka come with us as well?"

Makarov shrugged. "If you wish." He sighed. "Can we just start the lesson already?" He took out a small container- one meant to hold alcohol- and took a swing.

Levy noticed a brunette woman towards the front do the same, but with an entire bottle of wine. Her eyes widened. "No drinking in class!"

It was going to be a long day.

The newly employed woman threw her keys onto the counter, exhausted. She looked up at the clock wearily. 11:59pm. She opened the fridge and pulled out leftover pasta, sighing. She had left the building without even bothering to say goodbye to Jet and Droy. She just barely managed to wave to Kinana on her way out, and wondered slightly how she had gotten home safely. Whatever. She was too tired to think about that.

Levy had spent most of the day just trying to get her coworkers to correctly pronounce the words, let alone remember them. Juvia and Lucy seemed to be handling it quite well, and helped her out a little bit. She was even able to teach Juvia "Suki na no"- a romantic confession- after she had begged her to. Levy was then amused for a while as Juvia kept saying it to Gray until Erza had, not very politely, told her to shut up. Erza, heavily embarrassed by her earlier mistake, was paying very close attention to Levy the whole time.

Cana, who she learned to be the woman with the wine, kept asking her how she should ask for more to drink, while her father, Gildarts, wanted to know how to tell his daughter he loved her. Most of the group seemed disinterested in the actual basics but more towards what phrases they wanted to say. Natsu wanted to know how to say he was going to beat Gray to a pulp, Gray wanted to know how to ask if someone had seen his clothes (which seemed like a necessary phrase for him, so she told him), Elfman simply wanted to know how to say "man", and Makao and Wakaba wanted to learn how to hit on girls. Makarov was amused the whole time. Also very drunk.

When Levy was finally able to lay down, she realized just how much happened that day, and how many questions she still had left.

How did Erza mess up the translation that badly?

What is the relationship between Jet, Droy, and Gajeel?

Do Jet and Droy even know Gajeel works at Fairy Tail?

How did Makarov become the CAO?

Why did the Mirajane, Lisanna, Kinana seem to be the only sane people in the whole firm?

Why did she not feel the need to punch Gajeel in the face every two seconds?

And most importantly, why weren't Wendy and Romeo dating?


End file.
